The English Reformation

The Reformation was created by a man, a German monk, teacher at the Wittenberg University, called
Martin Luther. He wrote his 95 articles after being in Rome and seeing the corruption that existed in the
Catholic Church: the people were selling fake holly objects and fake pardons. Also, the abuses of the
Catholic Church were so great that a new church was imposed, the protestant church.

In England, the Reformation took the concepts of Luther and combined them with other concepts like
the concepts of Jean Calvin, another man of the reformation. Luther came with the teoretical ideas, but
Calvin added a practical spirit. We have several principles:

- The idea of predestination, meaning that man’s destiny is already decided by God. The only
thing that man can do is to improve his destiny by doing good deeds( if you do good deeds you’ll
get in heaven but if you do bad things you’ll be punished).
- The Catholic Church had the idea of purgatory, a place where you go in order to receive an
answer: if you go to heaven or hell. Calvin deleted this thing.
- Since the protestant church is not anymmore under Pope’s control, a leader was imposed. The
leader would become a minister and he had to be memeber of the congregation (a community
having the same protestant church and sharing the same ideas) and to had religious studies.

In England, we have the rule of Henry vlll Tudor, who was married with Catherine of Aragon, who gave
him a daughter, Mary Tudor. It seems that, He promised to his father to have a boy, in order to become
king because a king does a better job than a queen. The only solution for Henry to have a boy was to
marry again but the Catholic Church had already forbidden this. Thanks to this thing, he embraced the
new protestant ideas, he took a personal decision and declared the church of England as a protestant
one. He convinced the Parliament to accept this because he was a popular leader and had a strong point
of view.

The separation with the Vatican was also possible thanks to other things:

- The Pope had not a concrete presence in England.

- The distance between England and the Vatican was so great that the English believed that The
Vatican was only one church at the end of the world.
- The Reformation put the accent on the nationalis, it made the English being proud that they
were English. The national language entered the churches, parts of the BIBLE started being
translated and used, the service was done in English.
- The abuses and the hate against the Catholic Church also helped the Reformation.

In November 1534, to mark the breaking with the Vatican, Henry vlll gave the Act of Supremacy. It said
that all links with The Vatican were cut and proclamed England as a protestant country. Before the
reformation, the head of the church in England was the Pope, but after the Act of Supremacy, the
church became one of the subjects of king’s domination; the king became the head of the church. Since
Hvlll until today, this is the situation in England. Hvlll respected Calvin’s ideas; he was a ruler of the
church, being also memeber of the society. The new formed church needed a new name: The
Established Church of England- The Anglican Church. The anglicanism was the concept by which the
church was ruled. We have also some other concepts: the calvinism, the presbyterianism, the
lutheranism. Also, all the institutions of the Catholic Church were no longer valued, trusted, there were
no longer official institutions.

Socially and economically speaking, life in England, during the Reformation, was very poor because
England lost the hundred years war, the war of the roses also affected the country. Another thing that
contributed to this thing was even the king: Henry vlll, instead of rulling in equilibrium, he liked to enjoy
himself, to spend money on expensive objects, in one word, to have a luxurious life. The solution that he
found was to take the riches of the Catholic Church (the Catholic Church was rich thanks to the abuses
and the pardons). He couldn’t simplly take the riches and in order to take them he gave a law in 1536
referring to the dissolution of the monastaires. This thing had several consequences:

- It started with the small mostaires, then it extended to the larger ones;
- The monastaires lost all their money and riches;
- The education was deeply affected thanks to this thing because, it is known that the schools
were built around the monastaires. After the dissolution, the schools with a catholic education,
with tradtion, disappeared;
- Also, the land of the church was given to the aristocracy, in order to control it better, to mentain
the aristocracy better under the control of the crown.
- All the hate against tha Catholi Church generated several conflicts, terrible things (e.g the
protestants went to Canterbury, took out Thomas Becket rests and destroyed them, the
churches were destroyed, all the decorations were destroyed; several catholic preiests were
killed). However, England knew how to avoid the conflicts with other regions in this context of
religious instability (e.g England was not involved in the religious wars).
- This proces lasted several years.

The English who weren’t protestants started the revolts. However, we have several good things referring
to the Reformation. A new type of education appeared, an education starting from the inside, form the
national language and national values, without any implication from outside. Parts of the Bible started
being translated and used in the Church, the national language entered the churches, everybody could
understand the sedrvice beacause it was made in English and not in latin.

Henry vlll decided to marry again, with one of the ladies who accompanied the queen, called Ambolaine.
He had 6 wifes, 2 of them were beheaded. Ambolaine gave him also a daughter , Elizabeth Tudor. It
seemd that Ambolaine took place in a complot in order to kill the king, it did not have success and she
was beheaded. The third wife gave him a boy, Edward vl. The fouth wife was sent back in Germany
beacuse the marriage did not consumate. The fifth wife was only 15 and he was 50. She found a lover,
Henry found out and beheaded her. The sixth wife was more like a nurse who took care of him. He
educated his daughter, Elizabeth to be more like him, as popular as he used to be. He died after a full
life. So the second Tudor lived and ruled in his own way, enjoying life, having a strong point of view,
rejecting the opinions of the others.
Henry vlll named his successor Edward vl, his son, but he was still young and could not rule. A conucil of
regency was created and this council used the Reformation in order to impose, to control well the
population. We have also a good thing, during the lead of this council The Book of Common Prayer was
written and published. It contained the most used prayers, was written in English and introduced in the
churches.

Edward vl did not live for a long period of time. He died and the Parliament had to choose between the
two daughters :Mary Tudor and Elizabeth Tudor. It chose Mary Tudo because she was older, even if she
was catholic. When she became queen, she tried to destroy the Reformation and to rebuild the
connection with the Vatican but the Pope did not accept this. She is known thanks to the Marian
Persecutions: in order to stop the revolts she killed 283 protestants in the city of London. Thanks to this
thing she was called Bloody Mary and she took part in a general movement against the Reformation, the
Counter- Reformation. One good thing that happened was that the Catholic Churches were rebuild and
the catholich education reappeared. She died of cancer, also , she could have been poissoned.

Luckly she died with no childern and did not rule for a long period of time. The only solution for the
thorne was the last child of Henry VIII Elizabeth Tduor, who would become Elizabeth l.